Sorry for posting this because I know I've seen a post on here for Hitachi tweaks before. For the life of me I can't find it though.

Taking delivery of my 51F500 on Sunday and I will be getting it ISF'd in a month or two after it's broken in. In the meantime I'd like to get the picture as good as I can without the ability of doing my own grayscale calibration etc. I have a Video Essentials disc to do the basics but would love more info. ;)

So info on how to minimize/fix the green push or any other helpful hints will be greatly appreciated.

To get into the service menu you press input + power. This can be kinda tricky, you have to release the input button right after you hit the power button.

To get to the above parameters, go up through the service mode menu until you get to the ISF Mode menu... Highlight and Right Arrow...

Page down a few pages and you will see the above parameters...

The 4,F,and G suffixes correlate to the different modes 480I,480P,1080I respectively.

Using the AVIA color bars you can decrease RED push by modifying the the parameters that begin with R. And likewise you can make modifications to the Green portion of the decoder by modifying the parameters prefixing with G.

Manual Convergence for the Hitachi
1) Receive an NTSC signal.
2) Press Magic Focus to begin magic focus
3) Press magic focus again during the magic focus process to get the â€˜stopâ€™ screen
4) While stop screen is up, press STATUS or INFO on the remote control (R/C) to bring you to DCAM mode and the service grid (64 point grid)
5) When you first get in hereâ€¦ I believe red is the selected color by default (it is flashing).
6) To choose other colors to converge, use the following buttons on the R/C:
a) â€œSTATUSâ€ - Green
b) â€œ0â€ - Red
c) â€œANTâ€ â€“ Blue
7) Start from the center of the screen and work your way out on one color at a time. I adjusted red across the whole screen to match green. Then I switched to blue, and adjusted that to green as well. After you adjust blue, you may want to go back and adjust some red againâ€¦ etc. until the convergence looks good.
(a) Use 4, 6, 2, and 5 on the R/C to move the cursor position(dotted lines).
(b) Use thumb stick to move the convergence point color.
** There have been other posts in here to tape together the color filters found in the Avia DVD to help converge lines more easily. I have used this method, and it works well for adjusting to a greater detail. Basically, you put the red filter next to the green and adjust your red to the green line both horizontally, and then vertically. Then you do the same with the blue next to the green. Some people recommended you should be at normal viewing distance. I did mine from just a few feet back from the set. Maybe my eyes arenâ€™t as goodâ€¦ maybe I just felt like it worked better this way. There are some other posts also recommending using binoculars. I think itâ€™s great that people suggest things to make the process easierâ€¦ but my girlfriend would think I was insane if she saw me with binoculars on the couch adjusting the convergence. I donâ€™t knowâ€¦ whatever works best I guess.
8) I did not adjust the green at all. I use the green as the guide and did not adjust the location of any green point. This is highly suggested unless you have geometry problems.
9) When going along the lines and adjusting, you may run into the problem of getting an â€˜Sâ€™ curve on the line. Youâ€™ll know if you get there. Basically, no matter what you do to adjust the line to be converged, the middle of the line between the points will not straighten out (it bends between the points). To fix this, the manual recommends going to the (7x5) mode which gives you less points to adjust. I had this problem, and the solution worked. There is also another mode (3x3) which gives you even less points. Basically, if the set looks good, you only fine tune it in (13x9) mode (64 point). If you have serious problems, the grids work as:
3x3 â€“ â€˜coarseâ€™
7x5 â€“ â€˜mediumâ€™
13x9 â€“ â€˜fineâ€™
10) To get to each of these patterns use the following on the R/C: (only if you need to)
1. (3x3) Press â€œSTATUSâ€ 5 times (only works when DCU is in uncorrected state)
2. (7x5) Press â€œ0â€ 5 times
3. (13x9) Press â€œANTâ€ 5 times
11) If you adjust the 3x3, then you should go to the 7x5, and then the 13x9. You get the pointâ€¦ depending on where you start, work your way up, and always finish on the 13x9
12) When finishing up the 13x9 mode, to get additional â€˜gridsâ€™ on the edges of the screen, press the PIP CH button on the remote control while in the digital convergence adjustment mode (DCAM). Fine tune the edge convergence as necessary. To exit, press PIP CH again.
13) When convergence is acceptable, press PIP MODE to write data to ROM memory. ROM WRITE? is displayed to alarm system that ROM will be overwritten with new data. Press the PIP MODE button again to write displayed data to ROM.
14) DATA WRITE TO ROM will take approximately 4 seconds and no picture will be displayed.
15) Green dots will be displayed when operation is completed.
WARNING: YOU MUST DO THE FOLLOWING STEPS TO COMPLETE MAGIC FOCUS INITIALIZATION!!! THERE HAVE BEEN MANY POSTS THAT PEOPLE HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITHOUT DOING THIS STEP BECAUSE THEY LOOSE MAGIC FOCUS!
16) Press MUTE to return to convergence pattern, then confirm again convergence is acceptable.
17) Press PIP MODE and then PIP CH to initialize Magic Focus. The initialize operation starts and several windows appear during this operation. It takes about 30 seconds or less.
18) When green dots appear, initialize operation is finished.
19) Turn power OFF.
21) Wait a few seconds. Turn the TV on, and you should have your normal signal. Press Magic Focus button just to make sure the magic focus still works (and that you did the last few steps properly)
Note: I wouldnâ€™t recommend doing any of this unless you have the service manual. There are some things in there that I have not included that you might need. (if something goes wrong during convergence you will get error codes to tell you what went wrong, CONVERGENCE ERRORS pg. 56) Donâ€™t get scaredâ€¦ none of this happened to meâ€¦ but itâ€™s a good idea to have the manual in case!

At this point I set RGBOUT0 to Blue and I pulled up the Blue Color Bars on my Avia disk. Then I proceeded to set the Color and Tint levels within the ISF menu. Next, I moved on to the Red Color Bars setting RGBOUT0 to Red and adjusting the RY and R/Bs. I finished it up doing the same with RBGOUT0 to Green and adjusting the GY and G/Bs.

Not only did all of my settings turn out (slightly) different using this technique, but I noticed it certainly was easier to make the adjustments while using the RBGOUT0 values versus using the Avia supplied color filters. I'm fairly certain it allowed for more accurate adjustments as well.

My latest settings are a lot closer to the settings inaka posted way back at the beginning of this post than what I initially ended up with tweaking with the color filters and without adjusting the ISF menu Color and Tint.

Here are my latest settings*.

Color-4 55
Color-F 55

Tint-4 46
Tint-F 42

RY-PH-4 02
RY-PH-F 02

R/B-GA4 03
R/B-GAF 03

GY-PH-4 02
GY-PH-F 02

G/B-GA4 05
G/B-GAF 05

Focus Adjustments:

To do an electronic/mechanical focus, pull up the user menu manual convergence (the dot pattern). Pull the red, green, and blue apart on the center, right and left sides of the screen like I did in the convergence grid picture. Do it at the top because you are going to raise the screen. Remove black panel behind the speaker cover. Turn the electronic focus knobs until to achieve the tightest dots across the screen. For a mechanical focus, you need to raise the screen to expose the guns. To do this take off the screen (make sure you remove the screws at the bottom before lifting) and then put the middle rung hole (picture) of the screen and the top rung of the TV (picture). This will hold it in place and you can see the dots. Loosen the wing nut and turn the top portion of the lens back and forth until you receive the tightest possible dots. The first time you pull the screen off is very difficult. You must lift pretty hard on both sides to break it loose from the fasteners.

Lens Striping:

In most RPTVs, you will notice a little white to red sweep across the screen. This is due to positioning of the guns. To get rid of the sweep, a technique has been develop where you can put tape over the outer edges of the lens rim. I have attached a picture to show my current tape placement. Tape placement will vary for each television. To start, put up a full 100IRE white from AVIA. Look to see if you see excessive red hue on one side (you probably will). Pull off the screen. Place black tape on the outer edge away from the center of the TV on the Red Gun. Put Screen back and check to see if you notice anymore hot spots. There will probably be too much white on the opposite side because of the location of the blue gun (Blue makes white more white). So, you will probably have to put a piece of tape on the outer edge away from the center of the TV on the Blue Gun. Replace Screen- Do you notice any red on the opposite side of the TV from the Red Gun. If you do, then you need to place a piece of tape on the inside of the red gun. Do you notice a green hue on the edges of the TV as a result of placing tape on the other guns. If so, put tape on the on the same side of the green gun as the hue. You will have to play around with the placement of the tape (further inside or just on the edge of the rim) to get it to your liking. You will not be able to fully get rid of the hotspots, but you will achieve a better result.

Overscan adjustment:

Do overscan prior to convergence because this will screw up your convergence and you will have to redo it anyway. Most Hitachi's I have worked with come with 5% overscan on top/bottom and 6% on right/left. You should try to get it to 4.5%. Anything lower and you run the risk of Magic Focus not working correctly. Also, there will be a little bending at the tips of the red that can't be converged properly if you go less than 4.5%. There are two trimpots shown in the attached picture (one Vertical and one Horizontal). Put up the AVIA overscan screen. Adjust the two pots until you have achieved approximately 4.5% all around.

Setting Brightness/Contrast:

Set Brightness with AVIA. AVIA and any other calibration disks are useless for calibrating contrast. They only get you to the maximum contrast setting, not the optimal. The only way to truely calibrate contrast is with a sensor. But, for those without, I would set contrast somewhere between 25 and 35. The lower the better. But, choose what you can live with.

Eyeballing Grayscale:

What is grayscale calibrration? Grayscale is used to calibrate the black and white in the picture. All images are created using a gray backdrop. If you unplug Pr and Pb on your DVD player, you will see a black and white image. The color decoder will then place color on top of that black and white picture. But, the gray is the foundation for your picture. The thing most people don't realize is that gray or black/white are also made of color, various levels of red/green/blue. So, by adjusting the color in the gray, you are also changing the color in your picture.

If you are using AVIA, set Color to 0. AVIA inadvertanty added color to some of the grayscale screens. Put up the gray fields 30IRE and 90IRE, look to see if the gray or white has any additional red or green. If so, you need to adjust the Cuts and Drives. CUTS will reduce/increase color in the 30IRE and Drives will increase/reduce color in the 90IRE. In the Hitachi, I recommend using the Standard or Medium temp values (i.e. R-DRV-M or R-DRV-S). High temp is the master, and Medium and Standard are offsets from High. I have all three calibrated to 6500K and High looks different. I don't know why. Excess blue is very difficult to detect since it only makes gray look more white or less white. Therefore you need to watch several DVDs after calibrating Green and Red to determine if you have too much or too little blue. When watching the DVDs look for two things. Does facial tones, on average, look too pink/purple. If so, you need to reduce Blue Drives/Cuts. If the picture and facial tones look a little orange or yellow, then you need to increase the Blue Drives/Cuts.

Color Decoder:

The R/Bs and G/Bs in the ISF menu control color decoder corrections for Red (R/B) and Green (G/B). There are also RY and GY parameters, but they only make minor adjustments to tint for Red and Green. There is a series of letter and numbers that follow the parameter. The last digit has a 4, F, or G. The 4 is for (composite, ANTA/B), F is for (S-VIDEO, component 480i/p), G is for HD inputs.

To get to the ISF menu: Go into the service menu (Press input, then power (both on the console), let go of input when you see red light), press the joystick up one. You will now be highlighting the ISF menu. Press right on the joystick and you are in the ISF menu. Use RBGOUT0 to turn on one gun at a time. That way you don't have to use the filters and get a more accurate adjustment. Put up the color decoder adjustment screen from AVIA. Then change the R/Bs with the red gun on and G/Bs with the Green gun on.

Put up the AVIA color decoder screen. Set RGBOUT0 to 01 and adjust R/B until the 0% block matches the background. Set RGBOUT0 to 02 and adjust G/B until the 0% block matches the background.

To save the value in the ISF menu you must click the joystick. Otherwise, memory will forget the value when you leave the service menu.

Color and Tint:

Put up the AVIA Color Bar Pattern. Set RGBOUT0 to 03. This will turn the Blue Gun on. Adjust color and tint until they are balanced. Set RGBOUT0 to 01. Adjust the RY value in the ISF menu to balance tint for Red. Set RGBOUT0 to 02. Adjust the GY value in the ISF menu to balance tint for Green.

You may need to repeat the Brightnes through Color/Tint process a few times to ensure everything is accurate.

Hitachi Ultimate red push fix!
After trying the many suggestions for red push correction on the forums, and not being satisfied with the results (pale,washed out colors), I decided that the fix is specific and different for each set.

Here is how to do it: Go into the service menu. Press exit and release when you hit power on the front panel.

Service mode will appear on screen. Scroll down to the ISF mode. Press the right arrow and scroll down to RY-PH-F.
You will be changing the F values ONLY of the color decoder.

Note: you should be in movie mode,with AVIA on screen,contrast etc. all on 50.You will be using the red,Green, and blue bars of AVIA only.

Scroll down till you see RY-PH-F (hue) and RB-GA-F (saturation)

Write down the original settings.Change the settings of red hue and sat. using the red filter and red bars.You will not be able to get them perfect , but look at the bottom rows and try to match them the best you can.

Do the same using the Green filter and the Green bars on AVIA and adjust GY-PH-F and GB-GA-F.
go back and forth a few times and check the blue red and green bars.
the blue bars will probably be right on.

Finally bring the contrast down to 18 , brightness at 50 or 51, tint at 0, and sharpness 0 to 30.
Check the blue bars,they are still probably right on.

Since you changed only the color decoder it will improve everything including cable,sat,dvd,etc.So ONLY do the F values.

Also,Now look at the AVIA color decoder check.It should be dead on for red,green and blue.

My 20b now looks better than plasma with this fix , some manual convergence touch up, and the better black levels of the set.Please let me know if you have any questions.
Xanadu posted some great Hitatchi TV links for me, the one below notes that the 4, F, and G are for 480I, 480P, 1080P, which must go for the other settings having a 4, F, and G in them.

I found a parameter tonight that will help reduce ghosting. I mentioned in a post a week ago to set APRTR parameters in the ISF menu to 0. This did help some. The parameter I just found is called STRGA-0. Set STRGA-0 to 0. While doing this, put up the 200TVL resolution screen and watch around the numbers. There is another value you might want to optimize. Y-DTL-0 will transition the ghosting from black to white. Find the optimal point for your TV. Mine is set to 08 (originally 07).

I just changed SRTGA-0 from a 10 to 0, and Y-DTL-0 from a 7 to 4.

I adjusted the APRTR-4 , APRTR-A , APRTR-C , APRTR-E and decided that they were ok on their default setting.

WOW!!, I can now watch CATV without the ghosting, the picture is now much cleaner and clearer. Video Essentials sharpness test now looks better....... I played Saving Private Ryan, the first scene, where the old man walks by the tree, and then the second scene with the large X's on the beach with water crashing in.......I cannot beleave the differance!!, the edge noise/ringing is not noticable at all. Before it was terrible!!

Again,

Thank you very much for the information, and thanks for the links, i will take a look at them tomorrow.

The color decoder can be modified by the following parameters in the service menu.

To get into the service menu you press input + power. This can be kinda tricky, you have to release the input button right after you hit the power button.

To get to the above parameters, go up through the service mode menu until you get to the ISF Mode menu... Highlight and Right Arrow...

Page down a few pages and you will see the above parameters...

The 4,F,and G suffixes correlate to the different modes 480I,480P,1080I respectively.

Using the AVIA color bars you can decrease RED push by modifying the the parameters that begin with R. And likewise you can make modifications to the Green portion of the decoder by modifying the parameters prefixing with G.

----------------------------------
I found a parameter tonight that will help reduce ghosting. I mentioned in a post a week ago to set APRTR parameters in the ISF menu to 0. This did help some. The parameter I just found is called STRGA-0. Set STRGA-0 to 0. While doing this, put up the 200TVL resolution screen and watch around the numbers. There is another value you might want to optimize. Y-DTL-0 will transition the ghosting from black to white. Find the optimal point for your TV. Mine is set to 08 (originally 07).

Note: On 2001 models, it is located under the FLEX CONT section of the service menu and is called APACON. APACON should default to 1 for NTSC or 480i/p sources and to 0 for 720p/1080i. This appears to be an aperature control, though not vertical like it is part of the line doubler/scaler (because the ghosting seen from turning it up and down goes to the sides, not up and down). According to the service manual, this control is part of the FLEX CONVERTER -- the board that scales 480i/p to 540p or 1080i.

Be sure to run Avia's resolution and sharpness tests with the set in 4x3 mode before adjusting these parameters so that you aren't stretching the pattern horizontally. If you don't run it in 4x3 mode, the resolution indicators will be meaningless since they won't be displayed at their actual frequencies.

STRGA-0 is the parameter, 10 is the value. Change the value to 0.

Hi, I'll be happy to post my before/after settings. Remember, I only tweaked the (F) settings because I was using the AVIA disc with the Panasonic RP82 in 480p, Progressive on. Here's the before/after I got, and just for reference, I have the TWX20B, and these are just the settings on my set, your mileage may vary:

G/B-GA4 00
G/B-GAF 04 I just thought of something which may help. Since some users have said that the red push in HDTV seems to be more extreme than other settings, that could be because the original settings in my list under the (G) settings are different than those for 480i (4) and 480p (F). Especially if you look at the "R/B-GAG" setting. My original setting shows "08" and the settings for 480i/480p are set to "0C". That's a BIG swing. As Reflex-Arc pointed out, that appears to be the setting for Saturation, so that would also explain the easily noticeable difference in red color saturation for 1080i.

Just bumping that to my revised setting of "03" could change things quite a bit. I'll know more when my HD200 arrives in a few days.
G/B-GAG 00 I'm using component cables for my connection. (DVD is on Video input 2 if that helps.) And the (F) settings (480p) I adjusted, most definitely effected the color for DVD. I only adjusted the (F) settings at first, so I know altering these settings was what disabled the red push on my DVD image quality.

My Factory default settings:
COLOR-4 5A
COLOR-F 5A
COLOR-G 5C

TINT-4 45
TINT-F 42
TINT-G 45

If you look at the numbers above, the color setting for 1080i (G), is different than those for 480i and 480p. That would lead me to believe that this is, along with other possible settings, may be a reason for a difference in color.

I have personally not altered these from the factory defaults, since I don't yet have any 1080i box to test things out with.

Also, people were wondering if the settings for (4), (F) and (G) really were for 480i, 480p and 1080i, respectively, OR, if they were for different input settings. I think I can be fairly certain that they are indeed for the following:

480i = (4)
480p = (F)
1080i = (G)

Why did I come to that conclusion? Well, if you look at the "SHARP" settings in the ISF list sandwiched between these two for tweaking in the list, you'll see the following:

SHARP-4
SHARP-A
SHARP-B
SHARP-9
SHARP-E

There are 5 separate variables to this list. Thus, I'm guessing that THIS is the list for sharpness settings based on inputs. I mean, what other tweak for sharpness would have 5 separate variables? Also, since (4) is listed, and we've guessed that (4) = 480i, it would make sense.

So, in this guess, the (4), (F), and (G) settings should definitely be for the different resolutions, and not the inputs.

Then again, this is just a guess, I'm not an ISF tech, and I got a D+ in Advanced Algebra/Trig, so take my guess for what it's worth
I am happy to report that the suggested tweaks in this thread have done wonders for my DVD viewing experience with my 51GWX20b.

Upon entering the service menu (I nailed it with the first try ) I discovered a very easy to navigate series of options to choose from. As I scrolled through the menu down to the "folder" labled "ISF" I found it a bit interesting that my default settings were identical to those posted earlier in this thread:
quote:

posted by inaka

RY-PH-4 00
RY-PH-F 00
RY-PH-G 00

R/B-GA4 0C
R/B-GAF 0C
R/B-GAG 08

GY-PH-4 02
GY-PH-F 02
GY-PH-G 03

G/B-GA4 00
G/B-GAF 00
G/B-GAG 00

Due to the fact that I do not yet own Avia I went ahead and changed the values for 480p as listed in the same post as the "new Settings":
quote:

RY-PH-F 02
R/B-GAF 03
GY-PH-F 01
G/B-GAF 04

To monitor my changes I used my copy of the Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune Up DVD, Particularly the flashing color bars and the "Red Push Test" chapters. While I was still not able to get the color bars perfect with the new settings and the supplied blue filter, I was able to bring my User Menu color settings WAY up from where I initially had to have it set to reduce the overpowering reds. It jumped from the mid 20's up to the mid 40's!
The Red Push Test chapter was where I noticed the most difference though. For those not familiar with the disk, this test screen displays a close up image of a red sweater along with a yellow tie with instructions to turn down the color settings to a point where the red does not bleed, and the tie does not have an orange hue. Prior to adjusting the service menu settings, the red sweater was almost glowing when I had the basic color settings adjusted according to the blue filter and color bars. The red was so bright that the sweater seemed to be a solid shade of orangey-red, and the tie was definitely on the orange side. Turning down the color as reccomended by the voice over instructions did result in better reds, but at a very noticeable loss in the quality of the other colors.

After adjusting the service menu values the red sweater is most certainly RED, and the yellow is quite YELLOW! Not only that, but I can now see the texture of the sweater and tie themselves without having to turn the color way down. The level of detail was amazing.

When I was satisfied that I had done everything correctly, and had made sure I had saved all my changed settings, I pulled out a stack of DVDs to admire my handywork. The first disk I popped in was "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and I skipped directly to the chapter where there is a parade of people wearing solid red walking through the streets. This scene used to bug the heck out of me because the reds were so overpowering even with the color set way down. NOT anymore! Those reds were pretty dang near spot on!

Next came "The Shire" chapter of "The Fellowship of the Ring". I realize that this chapter does not exhibit much red, but I have never been happy with how it looked with my color levels set down to compensate for the unruly reds that appear a bit later in the film. Upon viewing this chapter my wife, who was "patiently" waiting for me to finish this tweak session uttered the only sound she had made in at least an hour; "WOW!".

I'd say that was a big Mission Accomplished on my behalf.

Now that I've rambled on for a bit (too long) about this, I'd like to say just a couple more things on the subject.

I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to this amazing thread, and amphicar770 for starting it in the first place. I have been looking for this information for quite some time, and I could not be anymore happy to finally have it. I'd especially like to thank Inaka for posting his before and after settings. Without owning Avia I would have no starting point to realy get in there and figure things out. Inaka's results have given me a great starting point. I fully plan on purchasing Avia in the near future to further tweak these values for my set.

I'd also like to thank Michael TLV and Mfusic (among others) for all of the great knowledge they have supplied to these forums regarding our Hitachis and more. Keep it coming, guys. We love it!

Finally, Do this tweak at your own risk! You can really do some nasty things to your set in the service menu if you don't pay attention. I have a pretty messed up 20" VVega to prove this. Please write down any values you change before you go mucking about in there.

Now guys, about those 1080i settings....

The color decoder can be modified by the following parameters in the service menu.

The 4,F,and G suffixes correlate to the different modes 480I,480P,1080I respectively.

Using the AVIA color bars you can decrease RED push by modifying the the parameters that begin with R. And likewise you can make modifications to the Green portion of the decoder by modifying the parameters prefixing with G.

Have two week old Hitachi 65XWX20B that was driving me nuts
with saturated face tones. Yellow-orange blobs despite playing with brightness and contrast.

Huge improvement. Turned set from nearly unwatachable from the cable box (Video 3 w Video,AudioR,AudioL to TV, and on Antenna A which is Cable-PreBox RF) into a really impressive sight. Can now see freckles on faces!

Why Hitachi does not have some kind or user settable
menu for this is beyond me. They could sell a lot more
sets off the floor I would think if the sales person
could demo this as part of the customer menu.

I know all televisions are different, but you are welcome to try my values.

For the color decoder values, I used inakas values RY-02, R/B-03, GY-01, G/B-04. I also focused the trimpots to the sharpest possible positions.

Hope this helps.

So I was trying to figure out why it is that my greens are not accurate after I've tweaked the color decoder with Avia. All my other colors seem dead on, but certain shades of green just seem to glow. The color decoder check shows no signs of obvious "push".

Yesterday, as an experiment, I booted up Avia again and went though the basic adjustments for white level, black level, and sharpness. After that I centered my tint and set my color at 50. Then I entered the ISF menu.

In the ISF menu there are seperate color and tint values for 4, F, and G.

My default settings were:

Color-4 5A
Color-F 5A
Color-G 5G

Tint-4 45
Tint-F 42
Tint-G 45

I also played around with the RGBOUT0 settings. Switching the values enables each of the CRTs one at a time. The values are as follows:

At this point I set RGBOUT0 to Blue and I pulled up the Blue Color Bars on my Avia disk. Then I proceeded to set the Color and Tint levels within the ISF menu. Next, I moved on to the Red Color Bars setting RGBOUT0 to Red and adjusting the RY and R/Bs. I finished it up doing the same with RBGOUT0 to Green and adjusting the GY and G/Bs.

Not only did all of my settings turn out (slightly) different using this technique, but I noticed it certainly was easier to make the adjustments while using the RBGOUT0 values versus using the Avia supplied color filters. I'm fairly certain it allowed for more accurate adjustments as well.

My latest settings are a lot closer to the settings inaka posted way back at the beginning of this post than what I initially ended up with tweaking with the color filters and without adjusting the ISF menu Color and Tint.

* "F" values were set using a Panny RP62 prog scan DVD player through Component input 1. "4" values were set using the same steps above through a Panny A120 interlaced DVD player on S-Video input 5.

As a result of the above I can now say my set is near perfect as far as colors are concerned. Reds are dead on, and Blues are nice and vivid. But even after all of that, some of my greens are still wacky. Arrrgh.

This leaves me with a few questions. Could the "electric greens" be related to an inaccurate greyscale? Is there something, some step or setting, we are missing using this technique to adjust our color decoders?

I don't want to have to reset everything to the defaults and live with a low color saturation setting's washed out colors just to get my red push under control . Perhaps someone who is ISF trained, or has had some recent ISF work done on their Hitachi can point us in the right direction.

That said, I'm having a lot of fun exploring my first RPTV. It's a bit like tuning a car, isn't it. You just have to squeeze every ounce of performance you can out of it.

Bill

My settings
Original Settings
RY-PH-4 00
RY-PH-F 00
RY-PH-G 00

R/B-GA4 0C
R/B-GAF 0C
R/B-GAG 08

GY-PH-4 02
GY-PH-F 02
GY-PH-G 03

G/B-GA4 00
G/B-GAF 00
G/B-GAG 00

New Settings
RY-PH-4 01
RY-PH-F 00
RY-PH-G 00

R/B-GA4 04
R/B-GAF 00
R/B-GAG 08

GY-PH-4 00
GY-PH-F 00
GY-PH-G 03

G/B-GA4 07
G/B-GAF 00
G/B-GAG 00

These seem to get rid of the extreme push, but they are like nobody elses?
I adjusted the blue with avia with the user controls, which pushed color from 18 to 48.
I then went in to service mode and did the 4 settings with red and green
and then the F settings the same way. Is this the correct procedure? My colors seem alot better.
I posted this over at avs and thought I would archive it here in case any of you buy this set. Scott

Hi, first I want to say thankyou to all the people who have posted here...this has been an awesome source of information and helped me make what appears to be the best tv purchase I have ever made. I spent 10 hrs or more reading your post and I am including instructions for red push and service menu convergence from people here at the end of this post just so it is all in one place for anyone else that wants to buy this set.

I did the red push adjustment immediately and magic focus....I was surprised that geometry looks almost perfect right out of the box and video essentials shows overscan at about 5% ....acceptable to me. I have not done manual convergence yet but after running magic focus there were only a few spots that I could distinguish any color other than white.

I am using dishnetworks 6000 hdtv reciever and I hooked up both component and s-video. during my red push adjustment I used the same values used for "f" for all inputs "4" etc... my settings after this fix and video essential adjustment are
contrast-26
brightness 50
color-50
sharpness-1
tint -default

through component on dish red is still very pronounced but does not bleed at all so I am happy with my settings. I have seen the post about green being lime green and I did notice this tendency and so I went and turned on my old rca cinemascreen and did a direct comparison of colors with the hitachi. the verdict is green is the same color as the rca(westminister dog show on usa network) but it is much more saturated....it looked washed out on the rca in comparison but it was the same color. I feel sure that this is the effect people are talking about.....perhaps if you could adjust only the saturation control on the hitachi it would look a touch more natural on sd channels...but maybe at the expense of hd...something to look in to. having said that its not really objectionable but I would probably tone it down a touch if I could.

I made a pretty significant discovery last night....in my opinion component sd did'nt look as good as s-video sd....more artifacts in the upconversion process....so I had resolved myself that I would have to switch inputs when watching hd vs sd.....which disapointed me because I really wanted to have all tv on one input, so just out of curiousity I changed the dish 6000 to out put 720p......it was amazing....when you do this the tv lets you choose 540p or 1080i conversion....now my sd channels look better through component than s-video. and the line doubler in the set is so good I could not see a difference between my hd channels being upconverted to 1080i or being sent to it in 1080i natively. hd really rocks of course...it is amazing a picture can be so good on a tv so large....truly awe inspiring. I do not know technically why 720p in combination with the hitachi's line doubler would make such a difference but trust me ..its not subtle

on to dvd's I think this blew me away even more than hdtv....I put in starwars attack of the clones and went to the clone factory and the scene where old darth vader is romping in the meadow with the princess and it looked just like hdtv....probably the cleanest most beautiful display I have ever seen on any tv....and this is before I have even done manul efocus or manual convergence.....either I got lucky or the guys at hitachi really have there act together.....I still can't get over this and I have owned the sony xbr800, the rca 38310 and my old reliable rca cinemascreen(analog sorta) plus I visit hi end av stores all the time to see whats new and I have never been so awestruck before...its that good......well thats it....now I am just going to repost the instuctions I stole from here. Scott
.................
red push instructions
Since there seem to be a few folks new to the red push tweak for the SWX/TWX/XWX, (and those
asking me about my settings again in pm), I thought I'd make a quick repost of the ISF
settings I used to eliminate red push on my set.

Anyone can do this, and as long as you write down your original settings, there's really no
risk of messing things up. This also assumes that you have a disc like AVIA, (however even if
you don't have AVIA, you can use this tweak, see below.)

1. Enter the Service Menu
You do this by pressing "Input/Exit" and the "Power Button" at the same time on the front of
the TV. (Not the remote.)

Hint: Hold down the "Input" button, and then press the Power button. When you do, immediately,
let go of both buttons, and the Service Menu will appear.

2. Enter the ISF Menu
Use the joystick on the remote to scroll down until the very last menu selection (on page 3)
which says "ISF Mode". Once selected, hit a 'right' on the remote joystick to enter the ISF
Mode.

Use the AVIA flashing color bars and with the appropriate filter. First select the blue bars
and adjust the color and tint. Then select the red bars and adjust the R/Y and R/B controls.
Then select the green bars and adjust the G/Y and G/B controls. Then start at the top again.
After you complete the above process about 3 times you should have the chroma portion of your
set nailed.

I was using the AVIA disc with the Panasonic RP82 in 480p, Progressive on. Here's the
before/after I got, and just for reference, I have the TWX20B, and these are just the settings
on my set, your mileage may vary:

I then took the progressive mode OFF on the Panny RP82, and re-checked the AVIA color patterns
in interlaced mode (480i), and the color seemed dead on.

5. Write down your new color settings
Just for the ISF color values listed above.

6. Optional: Repeat the values from (F) to (4) and (G)
If you have HDTV, you can make these adjustments 'across the board' by entering the same
values for (4) and (G), for the values you obtained for (F). I don't think you will have any
issues. I don't.

6. Ensure settings are "locked"
You make adjustments to the numbers by moving the joystick to the left/right. When you have
the numbers you want for each setting, hit "enter" on the joystick, (by pushing it in), and
that will lock in the new setting. Make sure all settings have been "entered" in, and then
turn off the TV.

7. Confirm ISF Settings
Go back into the ISF Mode, and confirm that the new values are displayed for the color
settings above.

8. Re-adjust user control settings for COLOR, etc. With AVIA.
Now that you've corrected your color, you may find that you can bump the COLOR setting way up,
and you wont see red/orange over saturated flesh tones. (Example, my "COLOR" setting in the
user control is set to 46% after the red push tweak.) As always, individual results may vary.

9. Enjoy Reds, Without Red Push
I love this set.

__________________
Mike McGee
Oakland, CA

Regarding the F, 4 and G settings in the ISF menu. I had my set ISF'd last week by Robert
Busch in Northern CA (one of the original ISF Techs who has done work for Lucas at Skywalker
Ranch). Anyway, he did put at 1080i signal generator up on my 57SWX20B and when we did the
color decoder for the 1080i settings, we came up with the exact same settings for 4, F and G.
In hindside, this makes sense to me. The settings are different than what is posted here
because once grayscale was redone, it shifted the colors a bit (not much though). My settings
are as follows:

SUB-BRT from 7F to 7C
G-DRV-S from 5D to 6B
R-DRV-S from 56 to 5D
R-CUT-S from 83 to 82

User Menu Settings are:

Contrast 25
Brightness 46
Color 50
Tint Middle
Sharpness 38

These are the settings for MY set. These settings, especially the drives and cuts, probably
won't transfer to other sets. From what Mr. Busch told me, each set is unique in it's
settings. Hope this answers some questions.

Dave

PS The set is much better now than before. My wife complained that the picture was too "dark"
before and that colors didn't stand out. They do now, she noticed right away and thought the
$550 was worth it!

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Garand Jinn
Can someone break down the cuts and drives in the ISF menu? Specifically the H, M, and S
values----and the differences between a "cut" and a "drive"? I have read some general info
about there function (greyscale), but nothing very specific as to what each does...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drives and Cuts are what are uses to add or take away color and set you grayscale.

Drives= Bright higher IRE part of the image.. like bright whites

Cuts= Darker lower IRE parts of the picture... what you would adjust to remove color from you
blacks or dark scenes.

Everything has a relationship to each other...meaning change one place can effect the
others....

................
service menu convergence
DCAM is the name for the Service mode convergence.

You enter DCAM by setting first in the user menu magic focus to "AUTO" mode and pressing the
magic focus button on the front of the tv set under the lift up lid to start the magic focus
sequence.

Once the magic focus is running....you hit magic focus button on the front of the tv
again.....this gets you a quick "STOP" screen.

Quickly, before it goes away you need to hit either the "INFO" or the "STATUS" button on the
remote control (R/C) to enter the DCAM mode.

DCAM is the name of the service menu convergence system.....

You can do much more with DCAM....and even adjust geometry (green color)

Here is some quick instructions on how to learn DCAM convergence:

Manual Convergence for the Hitachi
1) Receive an NTSC signal.

2) Press Magic Focus to begin magic focus

3) Press magic focus again during the magic focus process to get the â€˜stopâ€™ screen

4) While stop screen is up, press STATUS or INFO on the remote control (R/C) to bring you to
DCAM mode and the service grid (64 point grid)

5) When you first get in hereâ€¦ I believe red is the selected color by default (it is
flashing).

6) To choose other colors to converge, use the following buttons on the R/C:
a) â€œSTATUSâ€ - Green
b) â€œ0â€ - Red
c) â€œANTâ€ â€“ Blue

7) Start from the center of the screen and work your way out on one color at a time. I
adjusted red across the whole screen to match green. Then I switched to blue, and adjusted
that to green as well. After you adjust blue, you may want to go back and adjust some red
againâ€¦ etc. until the convergence looks good.
(a) Use 4, 6, 2, and 5 on the R/C to move the cursor position(dotted lines).
(b) Use thumb stick to move the convergence point color.
** There have been other posts in here to tape together the color filters found in the Avia
DVD to help converge lines more easily. I have used this method, and it works well for
adjusting to a greater detail. Basically, you put the red filter next to the green and adjust
your red to the green line both horizontally, and then vertically. Then you do the same with
the blue next to the green. Some people recommended you should be at normal viewing distance.
I did mine from just a few feet back from the set. Maybe my eyes arenâ€™t as goodâ€¦ maybe I just
felt like it worked better this way. There are some other posts also recommending using
binoculars. I think itâ€™s great that people suggest things to make the process easierâ€¦ but my
girlfriend would think I was insane if she saw me with binoculars on the couch adjusting the
convergence. I donâ€™t knowâ€¦ whatever works best I guess.

8) I did not adjust the green at all. I use the green as the guide and did not adjust the
location of any green point. This is highly suggested unless you have geometry problems.

9) When going along the lines and adjusting, you may run into the problem of getting an â€˜Sâ€™
curve on the line. Youâ€™ll know if you get there. Basically, no matter what you do to adjust
the line to be converged, the middle of the line between the points will not straighten out
(it bends between the points). To fix this, the manual recommends going to the (7x5) mode
which gives you less points to adjust. I had this problem, and the solution worked. There is
also another mode (3x3) which gives you even less points. Basically, if the set looks good,
you only fine tune it in (13x9) mode (64 point). If you have serious problems, the grids work
as:
3x3 â€“ â€˜coarseâ€™
7x5 â€“ â€˜mediumâ€™
13x9 â€“ â€˜fineâ€™
10) To get to each of these patterns use the following on the R/C: (only if you need to)
1. (3x3) Press â€œSTATUSâ€ 5 times (only works when DCU is in uncorrected state)
2. (7x5) Press â€œ0â€ 5 times
3. (13x9) Press â€œANTâ€ 5 times

11) If you adjust the 3x3, then you should go to the 7x5, and then the 13x9. You get the
pointâ€¦ depending on where you start, work your way up, and always finish on the 13x9

12) When finishing up the 13x9 mode, to get additional â€˜gridsâ€™ on the edges of the screen,
press the PIP CH button on the remote control while in the digital convergence adjustment mode
(DCAM). Fine tune the edge convergence as necessary. To exit, press PIP CH again.

13) When convergence is acceptable, press PIP MODE to write data to ROM memory. ROM WRITE? is
displayed to alarm system that ROM will be overwritten with new data. Press the PIP MODE
button again to write displayed data to ROM.

14) DATA WRITE TO ROM will take approximately 4 seconds and no picture will be displayed.

15) Green dots will be displayed when operation is completed.
WARNING: YOU MUST DO THE FOLLOWING STEPS TO COMPLETE MAGIC FOCUS INITIALIZATION!!! THERE HAVE
BEEN MANY POSTS THAT PEOPLE HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITHOUT DOING THIS STEP BECAUSE THEY LOOSE MAGIC
FOCUS!

16) Press MUTE to return to convergence pattern, then confirm again convergence is acceptable.

17) Press PIP MODE and then PIP CH to initialize Magic Focus. The initialize operation starts
and several windows appear during this operation. It takes about 30 seconds or less.

21) Wait a few seconds. Turn the TV on, and you should have your normal signal. Press Magic
Focus button just to make sure the magic focus still works (and that you did the last few
steps properly)

Regarding the F, 4 and G settings in the ISF menu. I had my set ISF'd last week by Robert Busch in Northern CA (one of the original ISF Techs who has done work for Lucas at Skywalker Ranch). Anyway, he did put at 1080i signal generator up on my 57SWX20B and when we did the color decoder for the 1080i settings, we came up with the exact same settings for 4, F and G. In hindside, this makes sense to me. The settings are different than what is posted here because once grayscale was redone, it shifted the colors a bit (not much though). My settings are as follows:

SUB-BRT from 7F to 7C
G-DRV-S from 5D to 6B
R-DRV-S from 56 to 5D
R-CUT-S from 83 to 82

User Menu Settings are:

Contrast 25
Brightness 46
Color 50
Tint Middle
Sharpness 38

These are the settings for MY set. These settings, especially the drives and cuts, probably won't transfer to other sets. From what Mr. Busch told me, each set is unique in it's settings. Hope this answers some questions.

Dave

PS The set is much better now than before. My wife complained that the picture was too "dark" before and that colors didn't stand out. They do now, she noticed right away and thought the $550 was worth it!
WHY HAVE YOUR SET CALIBRATED?
Televisions operate on two basic video signals---the black and white information and the color information. Color is added to black and white to form the final picture, so it is essential that the black and white picture be correct (i.e.--truly black and white) if you want the final picture to show all colors correctly. If there is a touch too much of any of the three primary colors in the mix making up black and white, all colors in the final color picture will influenced. (Remember, there are three color guns--red, green, and blue--which make all pictures, even black and white ones),
The "color" of black and white (actually gray and white) is expressed in a number called "color temperature." While this color temperature may vary from 4500 degrees (Kelvin) to over 15,000 degrees (Kelvin) in modern TV sets, only ONE color temperature is accepted as the industry standard used on monitors when movies are actually made. That temperature is 6500 degrees K, or more specifically, D6500. A set calibrated to this standard will look exactly like the original movie did to those who monitored its making, and all colors will be as true as possible to the original. Setting your set to this standard is what an ISF Calibration accomplishes.
Most TVs come from the factory with a very cool color temperature (way up over 10,000 degrees) calibration. This emphasizes blue, so all pure white scenes will look slightly bluish. Factories do this to squeeze out the most possible brightness to make the picture stand out on the showroom floor. Some sets have several color temperature positions (warm, medium, cool, etc). Almost without exception, each of these misses the mark of 6500 degrees, usually by a considerable amount. Usually the choice is between a picture that is either too bluish or too reddish. Neither is correct and the resulting colors are not accurate. It is not unusual, even on the newest and most expensive high-definition TVs, for color temperature to vary considerably (sometimes from 4000 degrees up to 15,000 degrees) as black turns to dark gray then light gray then white. This may give a bluish look to bright white scenes (too cool) yet a greenish or reddish look to very dark grays (too warm). Sets like this are probably the most annoying to watch.
When your set is properly calibrated, black and white scenes will be truly black and white with no color tint to the dark grays and a naturally warm look to bright whites (patterned after the color of outdoor sunlight). If you turn your color control completely down, the resulting black and white picture should show no "color." Some black and white movies on TV may show a color cast contributed by broadcasting errors, but this will disappear too when the color control is minimized. Most modern sets can be calibrated to track 6500 degrees (called "grayscale tracking") from nearly black up to the brightest whites the set can deliver without overload. When calibrated properly, you can expect the most beautiful and faithful color rendition that your set is capable of showing.
As dark gray turns to black, many sets (RPTVs and plasmas) really resist tracking accurate gray and dark grays seem to insist on having some sort of reddish or greenish color tint. Many ISF techs will strive to get the broad area from 30 to 80 IRE as close as possible to the correct (D6500) color temperature. Technically this is a normal procedure, but one I often find unacceptable. The area just before black is VERY important to the impact and beauty in a picture and it must not have unwanted color. It's also very difficult to measure accurately with a color analyzer. I will take the extra time to get this area right instead of taking an easier and faster path that might measure well but simply won't look as good. "

LIME GREEN UPDATE
OK-

The Green LIME problems...

Here is a fix for it

===========================================
For the green problem and to fix the parameter for the lime greens on the Hitachi; The parameter is G-STR-0. Go into the ISF menu and set the value to 0. This is a very easy adjustment since you're only modifying one parameter (G-STR).

To see the changes put on a footbal game or Golf with some green grass or as a test you should put Lord of the Rings DVD up and freeze on the outdoor hobbit scenes. Change the value from 02 to 00. You will notice a change.

Have fun and happy tweaking
Gambrelw,
I entered your values for the Ghosting Issues on my 57SWX20B and it seemed to make the picture really soft. I needed SVM on to sharpen up the picture. On HDTV though, it REALLY made the picture too soft with both SVM on and off (couldn't see a difference). I changed everything back to default and HDTV looked great again, but cable TV looked like crap. Now I have a decision to make as to where I would rather have it!

Dave

Have you done an electronic/manual focus? If you change STRGA-0 to 0 and turn on SVM. You are defeating the purpose. You are subtracting and adding back edge enhancement.

With some sets, you will need to reduce Sharpness when setting APRTR to 00 because of the increased gain.

DCAM

You adjust the DCUCONT parameter to turn down the brightness of the grid.

I do agree with you on the convergence. Two sets I have done had the demon thing happening. I would adjust a point on one side of the screen and 3 points on the other side would becomes S Curves. The one I did a week ago, I was able to go into the course mode ("0" fives time) hit the VCR button and push the Vid 3 button (Recalculate) and they all popped into place again. I am interested to see if this works on my next demonic Hitachi.

I just changed SRTGA-0 from a 10 to 0, and Y-DTL-0 from a 7 to 4.

I adjusted the APRTR-4 , APRTR-A , APRTR-C , APRTR-E and decided that they were ok on their default setting.

WOW!!, I can now watch CATV without the ghosting, the picture is now much cleaner and clearer. Video Essentials sharpness test now looks better....... I played Saving Private Ryan, the first scene, where the old man walks by the tree, and then the second scene with the large X's on the beach with water crashing in.......I cannot beleave the differance!!, the edge noise/ringing is not noticable at all. Before it was terrible!! Follow this in order. Perform at your own risk. If you don't feel comfortable doing one of the following, please skip it.

========================================

Here is some copy and pasted stuff I have been collecting...

Everytime I see a good post I copy and paste it for reference.

Good luck sorting through this and making sense of it..... but it should give you plenty to start with:D

Ummm...Thanks.... So basically I have to quit my job so I can set my TV up?...haha. I'm almost sorry I asked...

But seriously, I'll have to go through this info and thanks tons for all of it but seen as how I'm getting the TV isf'd in a couple months anyway how much of this stuff are they likely to do then? Obvioulsy they'll set the greyscale and I'm assuming adjust the color decoder for the best results and optimize all the inputs etc. I also assume they'll adjust the geometry and overscan etc. Anything else I should be concerned with in here? Or are they going to pretty much nail it all down for me?

Originally posted by MfusickHere is some copy and pasted stuff I have been collecting...

Everytime I see a good post I copy and paste it for reference.

Good luck sorting through this and making sense of it..... but it should give you plenty to start with:D

Thanks again for the info:) Got my TV on Friday and played with it and watched some movies :P But yes the red push is driving me absolutely freaking batty! Came on line today to get the info on it and the lime green problem. I figure the greyscale etc can wait till I get it ISF'd but I HAVE TO FIX THE RED! (All weekend my girlfriend..."Why are the people so red...can't you fix that?" Ofcourse now she'll be nagging that I'm spending too much time tinkering with the TV...haha...Can't win!!)

If i might ask you a question - I'm planning on purchasing either the Hitachi S500 (or similar swx if i can find it) or Pioneer Elite. Although, I'm leaning more towards the Hitachi. My question is - What size should I get? My viewing distance is going to be very short for the time being - like 8 or 9 feet. I live in a very small apartment, but soon i'll be out. I don't think I need a 60+ inch, but I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to get close to 60. Right now it would be a toss up between the 51 and 57, keep in mind that my TV room / Living room is about an 11 x 11 or 12 x 12 room at the moment ( IT SUCKS )

These tweaks on here have been GREAT!! Thx Mfusick! Im just wondering if I should bother paying the $25 to get the tweaks at ***************.com. Like will there be even more useful info or is this pretty much all I need? Also, I've got the Sound & Vision home theater tune up disk. Is it worth it to buy the Avia disk as well? Thx for any info.

Originally posted by aud19Ummm...Thanks.... So basically I have to quit my job so I can set my TV up?...haha. I'm almost sorry I asked...

But seriously, I'll have to go through this info and thanks tons for all of it but seen as how I'm getting the TV isf'd in a couple months anyway how much of this stuff are they likely to do then? Obvioulsy they'll set the greyscale and I'm assuming adjust the color decoder for the best results and optimize all the inputs etc. I also assume they'll adjust the geometry and overscan etc. Anything else I should be concerned with in here? Or are they going to pretty much nail it all down for me?

Thanks for all your help :)

J.R.

It would be a good idea to have your ISF look at all this info before he comes. Many are not going to be familiar with the newer ISF menus on the Hitachi's. Please research your ISF before choosing one as well (just a word of advice). It is best to get one with prior experience on your set (with satisfied customers).

Finally got to the tweaks on the weekend...Wow! The red no longer glows the greens are gorgeous and I was able to set the colour properly, bumped it to 43 I think and tint was 3 if I remember. All the colours now pop off the screen without the neon blooming the red used to have. The TV is now a complete joy to watch. Thanks Mfusick and everyone else for all your help:)

On the top level I set contrast at 40 and brightness at 50 (though I was coming out a bit higher with AVIA, I just didn't want to take it too high). One thing you'll notice with the decoder is that it is tied to the temperature setting - not the video setting. So if you make changes to the decoder - it will cover all your video inputs. If you change your temperature - it will give you a different set of decoder values (the default).

Remember I'm still very new to this, but the colors now look really good! Zero red push and pretty nice greens. I hope to play a lot more to get the settings even better, but this is a nice place to start. My set only has about 20 hours of life on it, so I'm sure it will break in an will require some changes down the line.

Hope all you "S" owners can share your values and experience so we can get an awesome tweak section like Mike and co. did for the swx!

give the s500 a chance, i've tweaked it to the point where i find the colors to be better than my xwx (after all the tweaks) - it's not "significantly" better, but I think after a pro-job it may be marginally better. well see :)